Getting the local ISIS affiliate out of the city of Marawi remains a top priority for the Philippines Army, but one that’s taking a lot longer than anyone expected, with promises by officials of a resolution within a matter of days now a distant memory as the fight enters its fourth week.

A city of 200,000 people at the start of all of this, Marawi is now virtually destroyed in many parts, and more than 200 people have been killed in an effort to expel the ISIS forces, and the growing number of bombing runs have locals convinced that the goal now is to “destroy the city to save it.”

That’s fueling allegations they’re being used as human shields by the militants, and while that may be the case to some extent, the Philippines military’s increasing use of airstrikes suggest they’re less and less concerned about avoiding civilian casualties in the first place, and more focused on trying to wrap up what has become a long, embarrassing siege.

Author: Jason Ditz

Our Special Forces are ramrodding around in the city,
terrorizing and torturing as is norm…

eric

Doesn’t take many terrorists fighting gorrilia style to control a much larger population . You have to have the hearts and the will of the majorty population to defeat them . Bombs won’t do the trick , because you hit to many of the wrong people and turn the whole population against you

John Ellis

But, when the name of the game is Empire expansion, civilians especially babies are the highest of valued targets.